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You can usually trust this missive for a weekly heapin’ of actionable fitness business know-how. But long time readers know your friendly author’s commitment to a never-ending liberal arts education.

You see, if you want to win at your business — and be the best human you can — you need to put some time into topics a wee bit larger than the best CTA verbiage for the third text message outreach in your follow-up funnel.

NOTE: You can totally overdo this btw. You should totally spend much of your con ed time getting into the weeds of tactics and execution and 1% better-ing every piece of your training gym. So don’t take this as an excuse to skip mastering the skills required to move your biz forward. 😉

However…

As MF’s maxim #37 states, we are all practical moral philosophers.

To that end, I want to share a few pieces I’ve read over this past year that have left me grappling with how game theory and AI intersect with ethics and the future we’re creating.

*cue blank stare from many peeps*

Sound boring? Worry not, we’ll be back to unpacking training gym greatness next week, I promise!

But for those with an appetite for brain puzzles, please enjoy these three pieces:

  • The Last Question – This Isaac Asimov short story zooms out to a massive timescale. As you may imagine, this leads to some big philosophical questions. It’s only 13 pages, but there’s much to unpack.
  • Crystal Nights – This short story explores what happens if — or when, depending on your point of view — we create sentient artificial intelligence. Far out there? Maybe. But if we DO manage to create inorganic consciousness, this story illuminates some of the moral challenges that will need to be navigated.
  • Meditations on Moloch – If you manage to read this whole piece, let me know and we can discuss notes. It’s long. It’s practically a short book. But it covers some important and troublesome observations; specifically, how independent agents pursuing rational self-interest can take down an entire system. It explains many of the challenges we’re having as a society and a planet.

Thank you for trusting me for going so off-topic. I believe these pieces are worth your time.

Love your brain, love your heart,

Mark

PS If you’re interested in making more income and a bigger impact with your training gym and maybe occasionally discussing the intersection of technology and global trends with the fate of the human race, there are two ways we can work with you:

The Unicorn Society

Business Coaching